Page 66 of Roughing It

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

hudson

I pace the cabin floor, snarling at my stupidity and the fishing gods. I’ve never felt so helpless as when I watched Blakely fall into the icy cold water while I stood there like a bump on a log. The time it took me to shed my clothes could have been—I shake the thought from my head. She’s safe. That’s what matters.

It isn’t until Blakely emerges from the shower in a cloud of steam and sweet smells that the tension melts from my muscles. Rushing forward, I bundle her up in an oversized towel and carry her to the makeshift pallet I created while she was out of it. I should make her some tea or cocoa, but I’m not ready to let go of her yet.

The minute or so she was underwater, and I couldn’t find her, was one of the scariest of my life. Between her disappearing over the side of the boat and then going loose limbed and silent on me during my desperate power hike to the cabin, I aged ten years.

“Hey, Bear?”

“Yeah.”

“Areyou planning on letting me go?” She’s smiling at me, her eyes shining with mischief and thankfully clear of the haze from before.

No, not if I can help it.I reluctantly place her on the mattress. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Small, dainty hands grab my forearms, pulling me into her space. “I’m not going anywhere. You and I have unfinished business,” she says, dropping a quick peck on my lips.

A relieved sigh slips from my mouth; someone’s feeling more like herself. She’s making it so damn hard to walk away, but I need to get sugar, caffeine, and warmth into her.

And grab her some pajamas. I wonder if I have any spare small thermals…

I dig through the armoire and find a couple of worn but thick long johns and toss a pair to her. “Put those on while I make you some tea.”

Thankfully, Blakely wasn’t out too long at a single point. About halfway through my frantic journey to get her to safety, I realized holding her upside down while running wasn’t the best way to transport her. But it was the fastest. Still, I swear this woman makes my IQ plummet. I’m a complete and total idiot when she’s around.

“Hudson, are you making a four-course meal over there?”

Huffing a silent laugh, I ignore her even if I’m fucking delighted she’s back to her bratty self.

“Thank you.”

I stiffen. She’s thanking me? This whole thing is my fault.

“It couldn’t have been easy, carrying me all the way back here.”

“I made better time than we did hiking together.” She scoffs like I’ve offended her, and I smile as I sample the hot tea I made. Blakely Bradshaw has the navigational sense of a boxof hair. She was even swimming the wrong dadgum direction in the lake.

Grabbing the mug, I return to our pallet. Blakely rises, the ignored thermals still lying where I threw them. She clutches the towel to her chest, the firelight flickering over her bare shoulders and legs, casting her in a golden glow. My breath catches. She’s so beautiful.

“The pajamas I gave you not work?”

She grins at me, a coy smile that hints at deeper things. Things people do in the dark. “It’s silly to put clothes on just to take them off.”

This woman. I clench my jaw. “Baby, I’ll hold you all night.”

“That’s not what I want.”

I swallow. “Today?—”

Cupping my face, she kisses the sprinkling of freckles on my nose and cheeks. “Today was a total disaster, but it wasn’t your fault. You saved my life.”

“I don’t want you thinking you need to?—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence. I’ve been trying to get in your pants for days now.”

She winks at me, but her face softens when, in a hushed tone, I say, “Tell me one more time. It’s not an act.”

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